Mischief and Martinis

Hello.
Today I'm giving these Uptown Girls a long overdue outing   :o)

They're ready to get the party started - with killer heels, and martinis in hand.

It's been a while since I coloured these girls, so they were a bit intimidating. I almost paper-pieced the dresses, but ended up using my Copics and following the colour palette at AAA Colourful.
The ink's gone over the lines in a few places, so don't look too closely ;o)

Challenge

AAA Colourful

Ooh, now that I've added the palette my card is definitely a brighter orange shade!
Can I get away with it? 

• stamping bella - uptown girls, victoria and juliette's night out
• pinkfresh studio - diagonal stitch rectangle
• mft - spirited sentiments
• stickles gold glitter
• copics - white gel pen - versafine clair black ink

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Hello.
I'm digging deep into my old stash today and giving these Uptown Girls their first outing, for a very long time.

They just popped into my head, when I saw the black and red theme of the challenge. I first thought of paper piecing their dresses, but then I changed my mind for some quick, copic colouring.  I'm happy with how the red dress came out - red is always tricky for me - not so happy with the black dress. I wanted it solid black, to keep it easy, but of course my black copic is running out!

Challenge
Color Hues

Red and Black

stamping bella - uptown girls, victoria and juliette's night out, coloured with copics

pinkfresh studio - diagonal stitched rectangle

mft stamps - spirited sentiments

WEAR THE RAINBOW

Hello
Quite often I get an idea in my head,
that is way beyond my crafting abilities.
This time it was rainbow dresses, in floaty, organza fabric with matching shoes (of course).

I am not the best at colouring and I've never really got to grips with my zig watercolor brush pens, but I used them here for the dress, trying to blend the colours by slightly overlapping them.

Once she was all coloured I added some white highlights here and there 

(not very happy with those on the dress)

and some glossy accents on the cake icing and roses.

I kinda like how she turned out in the end.

Challenges

Watercooler Wednesday

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday

Bright and Cheerful

stamping bella - ava loves to celebrate

zig clean color real brush pens

avery elle postage stamp die

YOU'RE MY PERSON

Hello.

It's my Wedding Anniversary in July,

but I've made my card early this year

just in case my dh decides to whisk me away

on a romantic holiday. 

#Iliveinhope

I've played along at Inspired By again, this week.

This is fast becoming my favourite challenge,

cos it really gets my old grey matter going.

Are you playing along?

I took inspiration from the grid design and 

the white numbers on a dark background.

supplies

stamping bella - uptown girl ava / uptown couple brett and brenda

clearly besotted - basic banner

happy anniversary sentiment - papermania

copic markers

memory box - number dies    mft - in and out stitched square dies

Mistletoe and wine

This just about sums up my holiday season.  snort**

Mistletoe and wine with my two gorgeous daughters.

It's hard to capture glitter.
But IRL these party dresses have a lovely sparkle.

Challenge

Addicted to Stamps and More

**Holiday**

Stamping Bella - uptown girls Victoria and Juliette's night out

coloured with Copics and Glamour Dust

Lawn Fawn - Violet's ABCs

Avery Elle - Postage Stamp die

The pink stars are falling

Can you guess what one of my fav TV shows is right now -

it's 'Under the Dome'.

That's where the inspiration for my card came from.

I followed Jen's sketch at Seize the Sketch,

replacing the hexagons with pink falling stars.

I never have just the right shade of card to match my coloured image, so I used a tip I picked up ages ago. I drew a wide line down a piece of white card, with the same Copic I used to colour Bella's dress.  Perfect colour match :-)

I also want to say a big thanks to everyone who left a tip re: my inking problem.

I tried rubbing my stamp with an eraser before inking it up, and it's definitely better. 

I used it on this little, star stamp.

Challenges.

Seize the Sketch - Jen's Sketch

Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes

Crafty Ribbons - Anything Goes with Ribbon

A Creative Romance - CAS Style

Totally Gorjuss  - Anything Goes

Stamp - Stamping Bella, Ava Loves To Celebrate coloured with Copics and Glamour Dust.

Stars Stamp from Fizzy Moon, Wish Upon A Star,  using Memento Ink (Angel Pink)

Fizzy Moon Happy Birthday Ribbon

Bakers Twine   Crystal Gems

Wedding Day Wishes

Hooray! The sun is shining.

And, here's a  little project I have been working on all week for our friends Mick and Debs, 

who are tying the knot today.

Debs is like me, she's not a girly girl, so pink, flowers or hearts were not going to cut it.

 I went with a more modern style and used grey and lemon.

Debs is book mad, like me she will read just about anything,

so from the outset I knew I wanted to make a 'book style' card,

following the great tutorial by Tina

 My card is covered with digi papers and I made the congrats sentiment on my computer.

It's kept closed with a pretty, lemon stripe ribbon, tied in a bow.

This striped ribbon is my all time favourite - it's so gorgeous,

and comes in a range of colours and widths.

Is it crazy that I like to take my ribbon out and just look at it! 

Please, tell me you do that too  ;-)

 The stamp is Stamping Bella, Uptown Couple, coloured with Copics, 

fussy cut and popped up on foam pads, to add some dimension.

I also added some of my fav. Glamour Dust for a touch of sparkle,

and scattered around some crystal gems.

Lastly, I made a little box for the card to fit into,

kept closed with a satin ribbon and pearl slider.

 

I'm really pleased with the end result. 

It's not all hearts and flowers but I think it's kind of

understated girlie - what do you think?

 Challenges. 
Papercraft Star - Photo Inspiration (books)
Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes
Crafty Ribbons - Anything Goes with Ribbon
As You Like It - Favourite Ribbon/Twine and why
Natalie & Amy -  Celebration (and DT call)


Digi papers -  digital design essentials 'digitally smitten'. Stamping Bella, uptown couple. Copics. Glamour Dust. Crystals. Striped Ribbon. Satin Ribbon. Pearl slider. Memory Box alphabet and number dies. Martha Stewart doily punch. Heart nestie dies.

Happy Everything

It's my dd, Annabel's birthday today and what a lovely day we've had.

Her b/f took her to Bamburgh for the weekend and they called in on their way home.

We sat in the garden,with our Pimms, and had a lovely lunch of butterflied, rosemary lamb

 with greek salad and tzatziki.

Here's the card I made for her.

 My starting point was the ribbon - Annabel's favourite, 

and I knew I had to use one of my Uptown Girl stamps.

I coloured her with Copics and some glamour dust, then cut her out 

and used foam pads to add some dimension.

 

I've just realised we didn't take one single pic of us, or our lunch!

Duh!!  But Annabel did snap this one of her dog Ollie, with our Suzie.

 

Challenges.
ABC - O for Open (Anything Goes)
Allsorts - Here Come The Girls
Hobby House - NEW monthly challenge - Anything Goes
Crafty Friends - NEW weekly challenge - Anything Goes

• Stamping Bella, Posh has a Present
• Copics and Glamour Dust
• Grosgrain Wide Ribbon
• 6 x  6 On The Edge, Petal Point Card Blank
• Sentiment Stamp, Stampin' Up
• DPs Pink Petticoat, Brocade and Apples.

Life is better with Gin

Do you fancy a giggle?
Head over to this week's Less Is More challenge, where the theme is 'Humour'.
Here's my entry...

This cute girl, is part of a Stamping Bella couple - you can just make out where their arms were linked - but shhhh - don't tell anyone   :-)

Sequins seem to be popular right now, and I found some lurking at the bottom of my sewing box.
This meant I had to go with red - not my favourite Copics to use, but I think I've discovered the trick.
When colouring, I left a narrow border all along the inside of my image. Then, when I had finished blending, I just went back and carefully filled in the border. 
And it worked - no bleeding outside the image :-)

 

Challenges.
Less Is More - Humour
Make It Monday - Any Papercraft
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
MarkerPOP - Party Time

• Stamping Bella Uptown Girls, Victoria and Juliette's Night Out
• Copics  - Reds R35 / R37 / R59
• Stickles Glitter
• Sequins
• Sentiment made on my comp.

It's 5 o'clock somewhere

Finally - the last of the snow has gone from the garden and today we have - sunshine!!!
I don't want to jinx it, but I think Spring may have arrived.

It got me in the mood for some pretty, spring colours.
For my card I followed the sketch at Seize the Birrthday - just changing the oval (I'm allergiK to ovals)  
to a photo frame.

I know it's hard to make out the frame in the picture, but it's there. 
I printed out my sentiment and used a rectangle nestie for the opening, then cut the frame like a polaroid.
I'm sure somebody makes a die for this, but this way you can make your frame any size you like.

Challenges.
Seize the Birthday - Sketch and feminine birthday
Totally Papercrafts - Birthday girl in pink. One of my birthday girls is in pink, hope that counts :-)
Simon Says Stamp - Congrats on their 4th Birthday. Happy Birthday/Celebration
Totally Gorjuss - Anything Goes with Sparkle
Really Reasonable Ribbon - Buttons and Bows.

• Stamping Bellas, Victoria and Juliette's night out - coloured with Copics
• Glamour Dust
• Spellbinders nested rectangle and circle. 
• Edgability Die, Classic Bracket
• Ribbon, Button, Bakers Twine
• Echo Park, Country Drive digi paper

Born To Shop - Forced To Work

It's Tuesday -  back to work day!!   Hope you all had a lovely Easter break.
My eldest dd, Maria, came home for the weekend and we had fun.
This year we decided to have the Easter Bunny for dinner - literally!!!
We defrosted the little guy and set about jointing him, only to discover - 
to lots of screams and shrieks and giggles - that he had all his insides intact!!! Eeeewww.
I can honestly say - despite the fact that he was delicious - we won't be doing that again!!

Here's the card I made for Maria's birthday - she will be 24 on Friday.
 

I had 2 definite ideas for this card. I knew I wanted to use this Stamping Bella girl and my blue stripe ribbon.
I went through my whole stack of papers trying to find a match to the blue, but couldn't find a thing. 
As a last resort I checked my comp and found this pretty, echo park digi paper. Perfect - especially considering that hexagons are so popular right now.

Challenges.
Totally Gorjuss - Something Blue
Papertake Weekly - Anyting Goes (Kraft is the Optional Extra)
Digi Tuesday - New Crafting Trends. Chevrons are out and Hexagons are IN   :-)
Pretty Little Ribbon - Spring Is In the Air
Sweet Stampin' - Girly
Crafty Ribbons - Anything Goes with Ribbon

•  6 x 6 On the Edge Card Base
• Stamping Bella, Uptown Girl, Posh has a present
• coloured with Copics and Glamour Dust
• Echo Park, Country Drive Digi Paper 
• Martha Stewart Lace Doily Punch 
• Spellbinders Pennant Die
• Sentiment made on my comp.  

 

Girls just wanna have fun!

I can't sit still this morning..
Suzie, is at the vets having some tests done and I jump every time the phone goes!
I'm trying to take my mind off it by planning tomorrows activities.
It's my BFF's birthday and she is coming up to stay. So excited :-)
Here's the card I made for her - that's the two of us right there - 
I am the mouthy red head and she is the pretty blonde. :-)
 

Isn't this Stamping Bella image fabulous. 
I love it when you find a stamp that loooks exactly like you  -  ha ha!! I wish!!
The girls are coloured with Copics and a generous sprinkling of glamour dust.
I know the colours look a bit washed out on the picture below, but I wanted to try and capture the sparkle.

Challenges.
The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop - Happy Birthday
By The Cute & Girly - Favourite Things. There are so many of my favourite things on this card - the stamp, gems, that gorgeous brocade paper and of course, the glitter.
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Girly
Stamptacular Sunday - To Die For.  I think I use my banner dies more than any others. They are great to stamp a sentiment on, but I also like to group them together. They make a perfect embellie.
Sentimental Sundays - Embellies that start with 'B'.  I went for 3 banners. It's hard to make out on the photo, but two of them are cut from metallic paper, that gives a pretty sheen.

• Stampin Bellas, Victoria and Juliette's Night Out.
• Copics, Glamour Dust
• Pink Petticoat Digi Paper, Brocade.
• Spellbinders Nested Pennants Die
• Crystal Gems and Ribbon
• 'Party' Sentiment was a magazine freebie.

Eat more cake!

Here's another of my new Uptown girls from Stamping Bella - 
isn't she adorable?
I admit - I was nervous of colouring her and almost opted to  paper-piece her dress, but I'm pretty pleased with how she turned out.

Ava, is coloured with Copics and some stickles glitter, cut out and popped up on foam pads.   
IRL she has some lovely, sparkly detail.
I also added a few random gems for extra bling :-)
I have learnt now to buy clear gems, so that I can colour them with Copics, to match my design.

Challenges.
Creative Card Crew - Birthday
City Crafter - All that Glitters
Love to Create - All that Glitters
Dream Valley - Ribbon and Bling
ABC - H for Happy Birthday

• Stamping Bella, Ava Loves To Celebrate
• Copics and Stickles Glitter
• Ribbon and Gems
• Grey DP, Papermania Mono
• Martha Stewart Lace Doily Punch
• Sentiment, Wild Rose Studio

I Believe In Pink

I have had a massive grin on my face all day - 
I finally got my hands on some Uptown Girls. 
They arrived today from Quixotic Paperie. Eek!

The first one I inked up was Audrey - isn't she fabulous?

The sketch is from Tuesday Morning Sketches.
I coloured Audrey with Copics and added some touches of sparkle to her shoes, dress, jewellery and eyeshadow :-)

Challenges.
Tuesday Morning Sketches - with option of using Washi tape.
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes with option of using lemon/yellow
Love to Create - Let's Celebrate
By the Cute and Girly - Roses are Red (I used a rose DP)
The Pretty Little Ribbon - Anything Goes

• Stamping Bella, Audrey
• Copics, Stickles Glitter,  Pearls
• DP - Prima, Madeline and Sweet Fairy
• Fizzy Moon 'Happy Birthday' Ribbon
• Spellbinders Nested Circles and Scalloped Circles